Here is a fun game for a party: Put on “Shake the Baby” off Angelic Desolation‘s new album and take a shot each time the vocals or lyrics make you laugh. It takes one look at the song titles on Orchestrionic Abortion to discover that the band has a sense of humor that recalls that of a grindcore band. A look at their bandcamp page confirms that they indeed take inspiration from grind as well as thrash and death metal, a mix that they have opted to call “Razorgrind”. I’m not quite convinced by a few of these tags as what they sound like to my ears is brutal death metal with a grindcore influence. Not quite a complete description, as the feel of the songs and the heft is what makes me place it in the brutal death metal camp. What makes the band stand out a bit, however, is a melodic death metal influence that creeps in on songs like “Brutus McMucus” and “Dic Tater”. While it is hard to put a finger on how, certain riffs remind me of At the Gates, or bands that are inspired by them.
This is far from enough to describe this packed 30 minute album as I can hear some neoclassical riffing, slam, bass skronk, dissonance and rock and roll/heavy metal riffs. To name a few standout moments, I particularly enjoy how “Shake the Baby” snaps between morbid humor to some brutal heft and revolving riffs that lock into the drums. “Peterrordactyl Man” shows that the band make intelligent choices when picking their riffs, as when the titular crack-deprived bum in the lyrics dresses up in cardboard with several sharp appendages and goes “Flying high, in the sky, give me crack, or you will die”, the riffs turn drawn out and dissonant to give the feeling that the riff is soaring above the rest of the music. In the end, I come away amused and content from the dose of heaviness that Orchestrionic Abortion offers. This band has character and some fun and playful ideas. At this time I feel like we have yet to see what their complete form is like and it will take some evolution for them to reach the same insane heights as Logistic Slaughter, of which their playful nature reminds me of.
